1) “I1c” HAPLOGROUP IDENTIFIED
FOR ANCIENT YODER FAMILY: In human genetics, Haplogroup
I is native to the Middle East and Europe.
It can be found in most European populations, most commonly in Scandinavia and Croatia. Its
initial spread is believed to be connected to migrations of people during the
last glacial maximum. According to current theories, Haplogroup
I first arrived in Europe around 20,000-25,000 years ago from the Middle East. The general Yoder profile which has been
revealed shows a “computed” haplogroupof “I”, but one of our testees has had the detailed report run on his sample. It
reveals that the actual value is a “I1c”. “The I1c lineage likely has its roots in northern France. Today
it is found most frequently within Viking / Scandinavian populations in
Northwest Europe and extends at low frequencies into Central and Eastern Europe.”

“I1c.
I1c families are found thinly spread throughout Europe
and thought to be associated with the early Gravettian
cultures [the so-called venus figures]of central and
western Europe. The I1c family is thought to have branched from I1* before the
last glacial maximum and is accordingly also an Upper Palaeolithic community sub-group. Currently
the Genographic Project holds the view that I1c,
amongst other Haplogroup I* subclades,
may well be associated with the early Celtic migrations throughout Europe and
this would account for it's present locations in Europe.”

2) UNIQUE MARKER FOR EARLY AMISH
IMMIGRANTS: For the 1742 Amish Yoders, we see that
there is a unique pre-immigrant mutation at Marker 19- a value of
“16” instead of the 15 shared by the other matching Yoders. This applies both within the children of YR2
Christian Yoder (c1700-1775) as well as those ofYR1- (name not known) who "died at
sea” and left a “Widow Barbara" as head of the family. The
other 18th century unlinked Amish man Yost Yoder (YRB) also shares
this mutation - implying that he was descended from a common ancestor as YR1
and YR2.C.Z. Yoder wrote in his
1932 book that when Yost’s son Christian married Magdalena
Yoder (YR252) (granddaughter of YR2) “tradition has it that she was not
related to Christian. At this time we have no way of knowinghow many generations back this common
ancestor occurred, or if the Amish Yoders come from a
separate line from the children and grandchildren of Caspar
Yoder b. 1571 of Steffisburg. (Refer to: http://www.yodernewsletter.org/SwissDescent.htm
).

Triangulation of results from some of the
19th century immigrant Yoders may give us
a clue on those. One of the prime candidates as an ancestor of the 1742 Amish
was the Jacob Joder who married MargrethStehli (son of Jost b. 1607, son of Caspar who
m. MargretHennig). The
results from our Steffisburg born Joder
(who is a descendant of this Jacob) seems to have ruled him out as forebear
or the Amish line. See as Follows:

Our Swiss testee,
who was born in Steffisburg, has shared his detailed
ancestry.

CasperJoder 1571/ MargretHennig

- JostJoder 1607 (who m. Anna Trachsel)

-- JakobJoder 1652 who m. MargrethStehli

---UllrichJoder 1702

----UllrichJoder 1743

-----Christian Joder
1789

This Jakob was
one of the potential parents of YR1 and YR2 who was discussed in the YNL 11 and
12 article by Rachel Kreider:

For the present day descendant to have a
marker 19 value of "15" this means Jakob
who m. MargrethStehli
would have shared that value. If effect, this RULES OUT this JakobJoder as a parent of
the 18th century Amish Yoder line. I had been inclined to place my bets on him,
as quoted from YNL29: "STAHLEYS: First off, there is a Stahley
connection to the Amish Yoder immigrants of 1742---namely the Christian Yoders YR2 and YR23 settled on property in BerksCounty
directly beside land of one Henry Stahley. And
interestingly enough, unlike other of their immediate neighbors, Stahley is one whose children did not intermarry with the
Yoder family."

(There is a second JakobJoder who married Verena
Kauffman and is about the same age, but only one of them could have been Jost's son. We don't know at this point what the ancestry
of the second Jakob was).

A test result from a Yotter,
who descendedfrom the Eppstein Germany Yotter line
seems to rule out another son of Jost:

CasperJoder 1571/ MargretHennig

- JostJoder 1607 (who m. Anna Trachsel)

-- Christianwho m. 1684 Barbara Gerber

----Christian Jotter b. 1720

------Heinrich b. 1750

----------Heinrich b. 1777

Three results show the marker of
“16” which links to the 1742 Amish Yoders!
The first of these is a descendant of YRC (Michel Yoder born 1788) has a
profile returned which INCLUDES the unique marker 19 value of "16"
which has been seen to be a pre-immigrant generation marker for the 1742 Amish
immigrant Yoders. Michel is reportedly a great-great
grandson of the CasparJoder
who married Verena Stauffer (son ofJost who m.
Anna Trachsel).Michel's father Samuel wrote the letter to "Schweitzer Christian"
(YR23) in which he referred to him as "Dear cousin".A second result from a believed
descendant of Caspar and Verena
is for a descendant ofJoseph Ioder who settled in Bureau Co, Illinois. It also shows the “16”
value.

In the line of a second son of JostJoder and Anna Trachsel, adescendant of Alsatian YA4 has results returned which also show the
marker 19value of "16".
YA4 is included as a "possible" descendant of Hans Joder (son ofthe Jost above) who married Katherine Russer.

What does this all mean?It seems very unlikely that both
Hans and Caspar independently experienced an
identical genetic mutation. One or the other is perhaps in error.Well, wehope to have a better idea when test
results come in from other descendants of these two SteffisburgJoders.

Coming forward in these Amish lines, one
mutation occurred within 25 markers during one of the intervening generations
in the YR12 line, and two within the YR25 sample (the two variations under the
464 marker technically count only as one). Without further samples we do not
know the generation in which the mutations occurred.

3) PROFILE FOUND FOR “MOST RECENT
COMMON ANCESTOR”:The Yoder
67 marker profile with a “15” in marker 19 appears in a wide array
of Yoder lines. It appears in ALL the Yoder lines EXCEPT for the 18th
century Amish, andlater immigrants
who arrived in the 19th century.Either the pattern with a marker 19 of
"15" or of "16" represents a branch off of a more ancient
ancestral line. It would be a reasonable hypothesis at this point that the
"Amish" profile (the one with a marker 19 of "16") is the variance(aka
mutation), and that the profile with Marker 19 value of "15" is the
more ancient of the two. Enough results are back for us to identify the
“67 Marker Y DNA Profile” for CasparJoder who was b. in 1571.

4) NORTH CAROLINA
AND MENNONITE YODERS MATCH: The 25 marker results for two descendants of Conrad
Yoder of North Carolina match exactly the
results of two descendants of Mennonite “Hans Yoder of GreatSwamp”.
This 25 marker profile seems to be the “Pure Yoder” profile of the
“most recent common ancestor” between the branches of our family.

5) AT LEAST SOME YORDY/YORTY/YOTTYs LINKED TO JODERS: The surname Jordi
appears in several villages not far from Steffisburg.
Families with this surname settled in Anabaptist communities in Germany and Alsace. Families came to the US as
early as 1717, with others arriving as Mennonites in the middle 19th century.

So far we have several testees
from the Yordy/Yotty family from Bavaria
to Illinois
in the mid 19th Century. The first of these, for a descendant of Peter Yordy b. c1812 in France,has 25 marker results back which show a
23 of 25 marker match to the line with a marker 19 value of the
"non-Amish" profile. This degree of match, according to Family
Tree" means "You and the other person(s) have matched in 23, 24 or 25
markers, which means that there is a 99.9% likelihood you have a common
ancestor." with the Swiss Joders.

A second 25 marker profile has been
received for a descendant of a the earlier immigrant line of the Peter Yorty who was in Lancaster Co, PA. by 1717. These match to
those of the first and confirm a common ancestor for both of the Yorty branches with the SteffisburgJoders. There is also a match for ONE of the sons of
Christian Yotty who came to Illinois about the same time as Peter b c
1812, while other sons of his seem to have been adopted.

6) UNEXPECTED RESULTS SEEN IN TWO OLEY
YODER BRANCHES: The spread sheet has been reorganized to make it easier to see
how the different profiles reveal themselves under the Oley descent. Five
samples from the line of Hans (OH1), son of Hans of the Oley line DO NOT show a
match to the rest of the Yoders, while one sample
does match as would be expected (that of OH112). It appears that in two
non-matching lines, there may have been an unrecorded adoption. Descendants of
two different sons of George Yoder (OH132) show a matching distinct profile. A
descendant of George’s brother Peter (OH133) also matches this profile.
As OH1 ties to the Steffisburg profile, these results
appear to establishthat OH13-
Samuel Yoder, was an adopted child of Hans Jr.

Two descendants of OH14526 have an
additional distinct matching DNA result which differs from the more ancient
Yoder profile. In this line the samples substantiate that the variant DNA
profile was initiated NO LATER THAN Henry S. Yoder (OH14526) who is the
common ancestor between the two testees. As a
descendant of OH112 matches to the “normal” Yoder profile, this
indicates the variant profile was introduced NO EARLIER THAN Peter
Yoder, (OH14). (UPDATE: SEE ITEM 15 FOR THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION!!)

The Oley Yost samples back shows a 25 for
25 match to the Steffisburg Yoder, and on markers
26-37 seems to match the values of the most recent common Yoder ancestor of all
lines.

7)YETTERS/YEATERS/YATERS- We do have
instances in history where Yoder became Yetter and
vice versa. One of these appears in the OH112 line- with a DNA confirmation of
Yoder links.

Other Yetters
have not been linked by documentation to the Yoder line, and the DNA supports
that they have a separate profile. SAMUEL YETTER OF COLUMBIACO.,PA: There were several hints that this
fellow may have been related to the Yoders. Samuel Yetter in Columbia County owned property beside a Oley
Yoder; he baptized several of his children at the Swartzenwald
Church in Berks Co. (where Yoders also attended); and
Samuel married aYocum-- one of
the Oley Yoders also married a Yocum.
The results are in, and they establish that this Samuel WAS NOT related to the
Yoder lines. Results from a descendant of Henry Yater
(in Kentucky by 1792- see “T” in the “unlinked” file at
the Yoder Newsletter Homepage) MATCH EXACTLY at 12 for 12 with those of the
Samuel Yetter descendant, indicating that they
share a common ancestor.(We
are going forward under this project with attempts to sample representatives of
Yeater, Yater, and Yetter branches to establish or disprove relationships
between them).

8) THE MELCHIOR LINE: Results have been
received from two sons of Melchior Yoder. One is from
the family of his son Jacob Yoders whose family is
today the only one which uses the "Yoders"
spelling. The other two are from the J. Peter Yoder. Mutations appear in
individual markers, but the value of two of three for each marker shows that a
profile for Melchior himselfhad neither of these mutations, but
rather exactly matched the 25 markermutation of "Pure Yoder"- shared in common by Conrad Yoder of
North Carolina,The Mennonite Hans
Yoder of Great Swamp, our Steffisburg cousin's
ancestry, and the Oley progenitor.

9) A SAMPLE FROM A STEFFISBURG, SWITZERLAND
JODER: The 25 markers for this gentleman match exactly those of the Conrad, Melchior, Oley and Mennonite lines above (the ones I
referred to as “Pure Yoder” and as belonging to the “Most
Recent Common Yoder Ancestor”. This gentleman is the descendant of Jacob Joder who married MargrethStehli, son of Jost b. 1607, son
of Caspar who m. MargretHennig.This
represents the first grandson of Caspar and Margret to be “ruled out” as progenitor for the
Amish lines.

10) Family Tree announced an
upgrade test to 67 Y DNA markers, and we selectively tested at this level for
certain lines. So far we have found no unique markers at the 67 level which
helps differential between immigrants of sons of the Steffisburg
families.

By triangulating the results
from descendants of at least two sons of each 18th century Yoder
immigrant, we have been able to see what the actual Y-DNA profile was for the
immigrant himself.This chart
summarizes these families. We see that there is a 67 marker exact match
between Adam Yoder (father of Oley Yost and Hans), Hans of GreatSwamp
of the Mennonite Yoder line, and Conrad Yoder of North Carolina. For the line of Melchior Yoder, we have one question mark at marker “CDYb” and are in process of upgrading one of our testees to allow us to eliminate the question
mark—either Melchior will match the
“38” value of the other lines, or he will have a “37”
value as appeared in one of his descendants (odds say he’s a
“38”). (UPDATE: The new Melchior
descendant test Does confirmthat
his CDYb marker value was “38” meaning he
also was a 67 marker match with the other lines)

The
statistical chart provide by the Family Tree testlab which is provide below shows the
following probability for to number of generations to the “Most Recent
Common Ancestor (MRCA)”. In other words, for Conrad, Hans of GreatSwamp,
and the Oley line, there is a 95% probability that the MCRA is no more that 6
generations before the immigrant, and a 50% chance it’s no more than two
generation above them. This may well also be true for Melchior,
as we’ll see when the second test comes back on the CDYb
marker.

66 of 67 markers match = 50%
probability of MRCA no more than 4 generation

= 90% probability of MRCA no more than 8 generation

67 of 67 markers match = 50%
probability of MRCA no more than 2 generation

= 90% probability of MRCA no more than 4 generation

12) Results back from a
descendant of Abraham Yoder who married Catherine Troutman supports the belief
that he may have been a son of OH135 (Abraham Yoder who married Hannah Leiss) as it matches the distinctive OH13 (Samuel Yoder)
profile.

13) Results back from a
descendant ofGeorge Yoder (bc1842-
2/18/1870 age 39 years) who m. Mary A. Miller (1846VT- ) bur. Freeport City
Cemetery, shows that he WAS NOT from the Amish Yoder line, as he does
not share the “16” value at marker 19. He had previously been
identified as “YR1272122”. One speculated identification at this
point is that he could have been from the line of OY426- George Yoter (Yoder) of Venango Co, Pa.

14) Results back from a
descendant of Adam Yoder who married Harriet Isanhart
(“AD”- AD- Adam Yoder b. 2/28/1818 PA m. 1/22/1843 by S B Clark ,
Seneca Co, OH to Harriet A. Isanhart (6/20/1821-5/30/1911
bur. Floral Grove Cem. Pioneer,OH)
d. 5/26/1858 FeaselburgCem.
near Bettsville,OH. ) show
that he WAS a descendant of the Amish Yoder line. Our speculated
descendant at this time is that he may have been a son of George Yoder (YR1271-
see the article in YNL45).

15) Results received in March
2007 for a descendant of Jacob Yoder of Lewisburg,
Pa (born 1783 and married to Mary
Sterner) show a surprising and definitive result!! (See also YNL 50, Oct 2007).
For years we felt that Jacob was the second oftwo “missing” sons of
Amish Yoder Joseph (YR127) who married Elizabeth Jutzi.A son of this Jacob went west to Stephenson County, Illinois
where Joseph’s son George (YR1271) died.For this reason we speculated that Jacob
was George’s brother…and that both of them were “lost”
because they left the faith. In YNL45 we presented the evidence which confirmed
that George was the son of YR127. The DNA test we just ran was expected to show
the Amish DNA marker at value 19 (a “16” vs
a “15”). Instead, it matched to the variant profile which appears
for two descendants of OH1452 in the Oley Yoder line!! A new look at the data
we have on this line establishes that our Jacob of Lewisburg was OH146 - the
son of Peter Yoder who married Eve Levan:

In this instance, the DNA test
itself has actually established the specific ancestry of one of our major
“unlinked” Yoder lines. It has also established that Peter himself
(OH14) was the source of the variant profile, and that he (like his brother
George (OH13)) IS NOT the natural son of OH1John Yoder!!!

16) The two George Yoders of Stephenson
County, Illinois are
linked to Amish line!Results of a
Y DNA Test for a descendant of Martin Frederick Yoder, below, prove that this
line DOES carry the Amish Yoder marker 19 value of “16”. This
supports the belief that the younger George WAS the son of George Yoder YR1271!

YR12718- George Yoder(9/13/1831 Canton,OH- 5/11/1911)

both bur. GrandviewCem., Freeport, ILm.
1856 ButlerCo.,
O

Polly Bodenmoyer
(3/20/1833 Butler Co, O-1/6/1913 Dubuque,

at res. of Dau.
Ida)(Polly d/o George Bodenmoyer & Lydia

Henninger)(Geo. lived OH to 1870 then moved to
Stephenson Co.

-- GAR Volunteer from Mercer Co.,OH A 71st Inf

(Reference: 1860 Mercer Co,O-next to George Babenmyer of Pa; 1880

& 1900 Census-Il; Polly
("Paulie") obit; Andrew obit, Collen O'Byrne

Charts-6/00- "Schuler-Bobenmyer Clan-Book:1758-1917"
)

+YR127183- Martin
Frederick(12/25/1863 O-Woodstock, Ia) m.
4/18/1888

NettieSpringmanFreeportres. Woodstock,IA as of
1918.

17) Daniel Yothers
of Centre County, Pa. (See YNL 37)- A
test result from the line of this gentleman gives evidence that Daniel maynot have had a common male ancestor with
the other Yoders. The first test in this line showed
a profile that did not match to the Swiss Joders. We
were very thankful to get a volunteer in the line of another son of Daniel. It
did not match to the Swiss Joders, nor did it match
to the first sample. So while we cansay it seems likely that Daniel
himself came from non-Swiss Joder roots, we
don’t know which of the two profiles would have been his, and which of
the two descendant lines may have had a non-recorded adoption. If we can
somehow locate a male descendant of a third son, that test could break the tie
and identify a profile for Daniel. Not sure that this will be possible.

18) A DNA test from a descendant
of a Yoder who immigrated from Kiev
to Argentina
in 1904 presents a profile which does not match to the SteiffisburgJoders. Information from the testee
reveals the family had Jewish origins and it now seems likely that this line is
connected to the Jewish “Yuter” family of
Baltic area.

19) The first test by a descendant
of YR17- John Yoder who married Anna Mast shows the second incidence among the
Amish line Yoders of a “reverse mutation”
from the Amish marker 19 value of “16” – back to the more
ancient vale of “15”. Several other mutations appear in the 7 male
generations born to this line since YR1. the first
test was from the YR177 line. A second test from the YR17a line shows an exact
match to the Amish 12 marker profile and confirmed the reverse mutation took
place in the YR177 line and did not exist with YR17 himself. A third test is in
process with a YR174 descendant.

20) As a part of testing a
descendant of Benjamin F Yoder, son of Moses (b 9/12/1824) and Eliza of Lewisburg, Pa,
it has been discovered that the OH13 (Samuel Yoder) line mutates with son
George (OH132).At marker 464d ,which is seen in the 25 marker test,the value is “16” vs a “17” which appears in the OH133 and
believed OH135 lines. The DNA results from the Benjamin line show that his
father Moses WAS NOT descended from the OH132 line, but from that of one of his
brothers. Brother David (OH134) did have a son Moses b. c1810, but the date and
wives don’t match, so it seems likely that the Moses of this line was an
unidentified son or grandson of one of the other sons of OH13.

21) A test in the line of - John
Yoder of Oley b. c1808 m. 2/23/1834 Lydia Measter
(suspected OH13214) brings a results which supports him being who we’ve
felt he was by lining up with the OH13 profile.

21) The first test from the line
of Alsatian Yoder Christian Yoder who married Barbara Schott (unlinked line
YA2) establishes that this line has the “Amish marker” (Value
“16” at DNA marker “19”). This ties him in to either
the line of Hans Joder who married Katherine Reusser, or of his brother CasperJoder who
married Verena Stauffer (See YNL 50). There are still
several linked Alsatian lines which have not yet been tested and we’d
like to find and test more male descendants in these lines. A test from a
second descendant (through a different son) establishes a 12 digit profile for
this Christian. This profile links to the Amish Yoders
(value 16 at marker 19) and also shows a unique mutation at Christian or
earlier ofvalue
12 vs 11 at marker439.

Yoder lines is
a family in Lycoming County, Pa.(family code “CG”) which reportedly traces its roots back to a
Johannes Jacob Yeater who came to America on the ship
“Restoration” in 1747. The Yeater
spelling and a spelling in early census records as Yetter
or Yutter led us to believe this line may have been
tied to the non-Yodermembers of the Yetter family.It was only in the mid 1800s that
members of this line started to consistently use the “YODER”
spelling. MUCH TO OUR SURPRISE AND PLEASURE, test results for the first
descendant of this line show a 12 for 12 match with
the early non-Amish Yoders!!!It’s an exact match to the Oley,
Mennonite, Conrad, Melchior, and

Steffisburg lines! I am presently trying to gather
material for a good introductory article on this batch of confirmed Yoder
cousins.A descendant is now in
testing through a second son.

24) Frederick Yoder (B)- a second 25 marker test has been received from a
different son of Frederick.
This shows a 24 of 25 match..which
lets us know what 24 or 25 of Frederick’s
profile markers were. Again, this Frederick
has a unique profile and does not match to other Yoder lines.

25) Tests is two lines of
Alsatian immigrant “Capt Joseph Yoder” have been received, one from
YA14 and one from YA13. Both match to the other exactly, but NOT to the common Joder Swiss profile. Either this points
to another “Joder” origin or a “non
paternal event” in the Capt. Joseph line.

26) A test by a German Joder, who believes his ancestry is to be found in the
Catholic Joder family of Hecken
has returned a unique profile which does not match any other. The closest ones
it can be compared to are those for YA1, however comparison byan expert at Family Tree DNA
indicates that the two profiles are not indicative of a common male ancestor.